On The Basis Of Sex

POSITIVES…

  • Amazing performance by Felicity Jones as Ruth Bader Ginsburg. There are some good nuanced acting here that deserves some recognition.

  • High five to some of the snarky remarks that Felicity Jones got to say here, which is in spirit with the true life RBG.

  • The supporting cast were also good in this, from Armie Hammer, Cailee Spaeny, and a scenery chewing Justin Theroux.

  • Plays off as a great companion piece to the documentary “RBG,” and gives us a nice human drama about how Ruth Bader Ginsburg is as a person, outside her already legendary reputation.

  • This is still a relatively straight forward movie, with what is essentially a David vs Goliath type premise. Doesn’t mean this movie isn’t capable of keeping your attention throughout, because it does. Who doesn’t like arguments about laws and cultural change?

  • As a biographical film, it wisely focuses the main story on one of Ginsburg’s first major cases, without the need to try and cram too much into one film. Consider this like a superhero origin story for “the Notorious RBG.”

NEGATIVES…

  • There are some time jumps that felt a bit abrupt, and come off as big gaps in the narrative.

  • Some might argue that the portrayal of how Women were treated back in that era was too heavy handed and over exaggerated.

P.S….

  • Or maybe Women really were just treated that way back in the day.

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Destroyer

POSITIVES…

  • Amazing performance by Nicole Kidman as Detective Erin Bell.

  • The general supporting cast are good in it as well.

  • There’s a bit of aging and de-aging makeup work here that I thought was nice to see.

  • Just like Nicole Kidman’s character in the movie, there’s a bit of unpredictability to the plot. Kidman and the plot are the film’s best traits. There are some good scenes that highlight this fact.

  • Movie can be pretty tense, and has a general air of apprehension throughout. With that said, it has a very deliberate pace to it, that doesn’t feel like it’s in a hurry at all.

  • The movie is very downbeat, and unpleasant in many ways. Not an upper at all, which I suppose works well with what they are going for with the film.

NEGATIVES…

  • The movie’s tone is maybe too downbeat. Some would say that it’s too much of a downer to watch.

  • Some might say that the movie drags a little bit, because of the tone and the pacing.

  • Too many unlikable characters?

  • Ending might be accused of being gimmicky.

P.S….

  • As somebody who lives in the Southern California region, it was kinda nice having a general idea on all the areas, and the distances travelled by Detective Erin Bell.

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Escape Room

POSITIVES…

  • It’s got a decent premise for a movie.

  • A couple of the escape rooms that the characters’ experienced in the movie did provide some fun suspense thriller moments.

  • Has some clever moments.

  • I particularly liked the whole upside down room sequence, in how it plays out and the visuals that went with it.

  • For some of the clues, I was actually able to solve them before the characters did, so that was a neat experience.

NEGATIVES…

  • The thing about a premise like this that involves puzzles, is that moviegoers could feel disattached to what’s going on, because they can’t always “play along” with the game they are watching.

  • It doesn’t help when there’s only 1 or 2 characters that are actually worth caring about.

  • It doesn’t help when most of them were annoying to watch.

  • Expect some plot conveniences to move things along in uninspiring ways.

  • The more you think about the premise of the whole story, the more it just falls apart. Kinda ruins the suspension of disbelief, and the overall enjoyment of it.

P.S….

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if beale street could talk

POSITIVES…
- First off, the visuals and look of this film is absolutely beautiful, with great cinematography. It’s impossible to accuse this movie for looking drab.
- Great acting work here by Kiki Layne, Regina King, Stephan James, Colman Domingo, and the rest of the ensemble cast.
- Alternating the narrative from a flashback to present time is a great way of telling this story.
- This is a movie that talks about the strength of love, family, and perseverance. It’s undeniably heartwarming and uplifting in all the right ways.
- This is also a movie that deals with prejudice, tragedy, and injustice. It really got me angry and dismayed, which are reasonable reactions to what’s happening on screen.
- There were some scenes that were simply amazing to see play out on screen, like the sequence involving a big announcement to the family. Just wow, it made me think “This Is A Damn Good Movie.”
- Some powerful moments also involved certain lines from certain characters, that really hit me with all sorts of feelings. Not afraid to say that some of those lines put a tear in my eye.
- Barry Jenkins directs this film with a seemingly lite, gentle, and delicate touch, that almost gives each framed scene a dreamlike picturesque air to them.

NEGATIVES…
- That dreamlike feeling of each scene might be perceived by some movie goers as dull, slow, boring, or just plain indulgent.
- Depending on your own personal reaction, you might feel unsatisfied with how the movie ends.

P.S….
- I guess congratulations to Ed Skrein, for perfectly playing what I’m considering the most hateable movie character that I’ve seen in 2018.

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bandersnatch

POSITIVES…
- Black Mirror does a “choose your own adventure” movie the only way Black Mirror would. You don’t need to have seen a Black Mirror episode to watch this.
- Loved how it managed to tell us a story that thematically works with the gimmick of the movie, which makes the gimmick actually not a gimmick.
- It can get so very meta and that’s pretty awesome.
- Experiencing a lot of the choices and results really enhances your enjoyment of the movie.
- Stefan; as played by Fionn Whitehead, makes for a pretty good sympathetic protagonist.
- Will Poulter is also good in this as the very cool and calm Colin Ritman.

NEGATIVES…
- You pretty much have to go through it more than once (or twice) to get the proper experience as intended.
- Your reaction to how much you enjoy this comes down to what choices you make and the time spent on this.
- The movie, as judged by itself, and without the interactive choices, is really just an amusing and passable story in the end.
- It’s not really a cinematic experience in the most technical level, and calling it a movie or a TV episode seems like a choice you’ll have to make.

P.S….
- Nohzdyve by Tuckersoft

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Watch it / Play it Now on Netflix

roma

POSITIVES…
- Arguably the single best directing work by Alfonso Cuaron.
- Amazing use of Black & White, that gives us a nice aged look, and allows us to focus on specific details on any given scene.
- Amazing use of the camera, from the panning shots, the long continuous tracking shots, to the stationary perspectives.
- Amazing use of extras in any given scene, that really enhances the world building, and also gives us all these easter eggs to look for.
- Amazing use of locations, that really gives us that lived-in feel, with many contrasts that successfully gives us an idea on what it’s like to live in the world of Roma.
- Amazing sound design, that gives us this intimate feeling of being surrounded by the movie we’re watching.
- Amazing nuanced performance by Yalitza Aparicio as our main protagonist Cleodegaria "Cleo" Gutiérrez, that should make you feel incredibly invested with what happens to her as the story moves along.
- Amazing unorthodox premise for a movie, that continuously jumps around from covering seemingly innocuous events to life-changing ordeals, but which only makes watching the movie feel very immersive and personal as if we are peeking into somebody’s memory. In turn, the experience covers the whole spectrum of emotions when watching this. As well as cover many social-political commentaries.

NEGATIVES…
- The narrative is simply not for everybody. You’re either in it for the experience as intended, or this is something you wouldn’t want to spend any time with at all.
- Some will find this extremely boring and slow moving.
- Due to the way Cleo is written and portrayed in the movie, you might feel disattached to her character, which will only make you feel even less interested with the movie.
- There are some baffling things that happens in this story, that might make you question what you’re watching.
- Dog poop. Beware of dog poop.

P.S….
- If you were given the option to translate a part of your life’s memories into a visual medium, I can imagine that it could turn out into something like this movie.

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Watch It Now On Netflix

holmes and watson

POSITIVES…
- Who doesn’t like seeing a collaboration between Will Ferrell and John C Reilly? Plus they’re spoofing on Sherlock Holmes!
- It’s got an all star cast involving Rebecca Hall, Lauren Lapkus, Kelly Macdonald, Ralph Feinnes, Rob Brydon, Steve Coogan, plus more.
- There were some clever jokes, and I laughed a handful of times.

NEGATIVES…
- I only laughed a handful of times, in a movie that’s filled with jokes after jokes after jokes after jokes.
- Comedy is admittedly subjective, but while I acknowledge the many attempts at humor, I just didn’t find them that funny at all.
- I like stupid humor, but these were mostly just stupid.
- This movie was just generally unsatisfying in it’s sense of humor and it’s story. It’s too bad, because it did look like it legitimately tried to be an entertaining film.

P.S….
- Apparently they really need Writer/Director Adam McKay to properly bring Ferrell and Reilly together again in a movie.

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vox lux

POSITIVES…
- writer/director Brady Corbet definitely gives us a unique visionary take about celebrities.
- Stylistic in many ways, from the narrative to the visuals.
- Natalie Portman absolutely goes all out in her role as Celeste here, and you won’t be able to take your eyes off her, because she completely owns every scene she’s in. Just incredible.
- Raffey Cassidy and Jude Law are really good in this too.
- Natalie Portman and Raffey Cassidy gets to sing songs written by Sia.

NEGATIVES…
- Depending on your impressions, you might want to actually wish it was Sia singing the songs, instead of Portman or Cassidy.
- Some people are going to say that this movie it too artsy or just pretentious.
- Is this movie provocative for provocative sake?
- Some people are going to get either frustrated, bored, or both frustrated and bored with the narrative.
- Natalie Portman doesn’t show up until well into the movie.

P.S….
- Listening to the soundtrack doesn’t really spoil the movie, so feel free to check out what Natalie Portman and Raffey Cassidy sounds like singing songs written by Sia.

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vice

POSITIVES…
- You’re watching this for Christian Bale’s amazing performance as Dick Cheney.
- Amy Adams as Lynne Cheney, and Steve Carell as Donald Rumsfeld are awesome in this as well.
- The kinetic narrative style that writer/director Adam McKay uses here is effective in keeping our attention to the screen. Like the meta humor and 4th wall breaking moments.
- There were some funny scenes that I thought were hilarious.
- The story of Dick Cheney is definitely interesting and fascinating.

NEGATIVES…
- I fear this just wasn’t enough to fully capture everything we want from a Dick Cheney movie. It feels like it’s just skimming the surface, which only gives it a somewhat unsatisfying final product.
- The narrative in the final act just falls apart, as if the movie didn’t know where to go at that point.
- I found the tone of the movie to be a bit all over the place.
- Some people will be disappointed with the fact Sam Rockwell as George W Bush isn’t in this as much as they probably hoped he would be.

P.S….
- If there was an award for “Best mid-credits scene of 2018,” then I might just give it to this movie.

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mary queen of scots

POSITIVES…
- Saoirse Ronan, amazing actress as always, and really owns the screen here.
- Margot Robbie is good in this too, although I wished there was more of her.
- Jack Lowden, fantastic performance from him too as Henry Darnley.
- With Beau “House Of Cards” Willimon’s screenplay, the plot is delicious intricate here. The political intrigue, the betrayals, the scheming, the tragedy, the drama, this movie will force you to pay attention to what’s going on, less you get lost.

NEGATIVES…
- Some will take offense at the historical inaccuracies.
- Demanding on how you take in all the information thrown at you, the story can get too convoluted.
- Sometimes it’s feels like the plot is progressing too fast.

P.S….
- Definitely makes me want to know more about Mary Stuart, and just might be convincing enough to get me to watch that TV series “Reign.”

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